SC allows 10 rebel K'taka MLAs to meet Speaker, asks him to decide on resignations during the day

The Supreme Court asked the Karnataka Assembly Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar to decide "forthwith" on Thursday about the resignation of 10 rebel Congress-JD(S) coalition MLAs, allowing them to meet him at 6 pm.

A Bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said the decision taken by the Speaker has to be intimated on Friday when the court takes up the matter again.

The bench, comprising Justices Deepak Gupta and Aniruddha Bose, also directed the Karnataka DGP to provide protection to the 10 MLAs from Bengaluru airport to the Assembly after their arrival from Mumbai.

Hours after the order was passed, the Speaker through his counsel, rushed to the apex court for modification of the direction asking him to decide the issue of the resignation in the course of the day.

However, the bench, which assembled after the lunch break told the Speaker's counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi that the order has already been passed in the morning on the Karnataka Assembly crisis and his application will be taken up Friday along with the plea of the rebel MLAs.

Senior advocate Devdutt Kamath said the Speaker has submitted that the rule permits him to first decide on the plea pending before him seeking disqualification of the rebel MLAs.

Further, he said it has been stated that the plea of the ruling coalition seeking disqualification of the rebel MLAs was also pending with the Speaker, but the order passed on Thursday morning only indicated that the Speaker will take a decision forthwith in the course of the day on the resignation tendered by the 10 rebel MLAs.

In the order passed, the bench, said: "Having regard to the facts of the case, we permit the petitioners (rebel MLAs), ten in number, to appear before the Speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly at 6.00 p.m. today.

"We request the Speaker to grant an audience to the ten petitioners at the said time. The petitioners, if they so wish and are so inclined, shall intimate the Speaker of the Assembly their decision to resign, in which event, the Speaker shall take a decision forthwith and, in any case, in the course of the remaining part of the day."